Should You Have Your Own Website?

While many businesses often have a website, usually individual job seekers do not have an online web presence. As a personal website is an excellent way to make you stand out among other job candidates, perhaps creating a personal online presence is not such a bad idea.

Why Should You Create a Website?

A personal website can showcase your portfolio of work and prove that you are a professional in your field. Besides these points, a personal website can also more clearly show potential recruiters and employers the benefits of working with you. Testimonials from satisfied clients and case studies on your website can further enhance these statements. Additionally, when a recruiter is looking online for a candidate to fill a potential job opening, a website is a must if you want these recruiters to find you. Also, since your website can be updated at anytime, you have the flexibility to make any appropriate changes and enhancements.

How do You Go about Creating a Website?

Many people believe that building and maintaining a website is a complicated and expensive undertaking. However, this situation does not have to be the case at all. For instance, you can buy a domain name of your first and last name for fewer than ten dollars. Next, you can set up an account with a free service such as WordPress. Besides being a blogging platform, Wordpress also offers personal website templates that can help you with developing your online presence. Once you have signed up with the service, you can then enter your content onto the website. What should you include? Well, an “about me” section, information about the skills and benefits you bring to employers, a “contact me” section, links to examples of your work - and so on - are great items to include on the website.

Create a Blog

While not necessary at first, you may also want to consider including a blog on your website. After all, a blog is a great way to showcase your expert knowledge in a particular area. Do remember that posts do not have to be lengthy as long as you are providing useful information. For instance, besides writing a full blog post, you can link to a video of interest or comment on recent industry-related news headlines.

Link to Social Media Sites

Besides these points, having a website is also a great idea as a website is a great “launching point” for social media networking. For instance, your website can link to social media networks that include LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook – and vice versa.

All in all then, while creating a personal website may seem like a daunting task to some, the “pros” of creating a website definitely outweigh the “cons” hands down.

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Larisa Redins is a full time writer and editor with degrees in both Arts and Biological Science. She writes about career issues and other topics for a variety of international websites, magazines, and businesses.